Automation of transport with mobile robots is gaining more and more interest in warehouses and production companies. We designed a flow rack in which automatic loading would improve the flow of details in the production hall.
Initial project of rack
The construction of the robot assumed the possibility of:
– load 4 cuvettes with the dimensions given above.
– draw and slide of the cuvettes
– installation of warning lighting
– mounting the operator panel
The robot was to transport between the flow racks – loading and unloading. The construction of the robot, equipped with a main control system, allows to retrieve information from rack sensors and collect cuvettes in a given order.
When developing the solution, we wanted to avoid waiting for the actuator to be released in a place where there is no cuvette and the risk of releasing all the cuvettes.
Robot positioning
Robot positioning is an important aspect of starting a cuvette collection program. Robots LD series are autonomous and navigate themselves using the map and LIDAR. However, when approaching a potential obstacle, they stop avoiding a collision. Using the magnetic tape, we were able to guide the robot to the right path and improve the robot’s positioning to +/- 1 cm.
Energy management
Automatic loading, controller and actuators draw energy from the robot’s battery. This is where the essential aspect of energy management comes in. The charge-to-work ratio of the robot is 1: 4. This means that one hour of charging should be enough for 4 hours of work. In practice, we also use other current receivers, and in addition, a high load makes the robot’s battery discharge faster. Depending on the shift system, we can load the robot, e.g. at night or take advantage of production breaks – e.g. during team shifts. We can also charge the second battery and replace it when necessary, which is a short and easy process.
